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Bebop Spoken There

Raymond Chandler: “ I was walking the floor and listening to Khatchaturian working in a tractor factory. He called it a violin concerto. I called it a loose fan belt and the hell with it ". The Long Goodbye, Penguin 1959.

The Things They Say!

Hudson Music: Lance's "Bebop Spoken Here" is one of the heaviest and most influential jazz blogs in the UK.

Rupert Burley (Dynamic Agency): "BSH just goes from strength to strength".

'606' Club: "A toast to Lance Liddle of the terrific jazz blog 'Bebop Spoken Here'"

The Strictly Smokin' Big Band included Be Bop Spoken Here (sic) in their 5 Favourite Jazz Blogs.

Ann Braithwaite (Braithwaite & Katz Communications) You’re the BEST!

Holly Cooper, Mouthpiece Music: "Lance writes pull quotes like no one else!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

16350 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 230 of them this year alone and, so far, 27 this month (April 11).

From This Moment On ...

April

Sat 20: Record Store Day…at a store near you!
Sat 20: Bright Street Band @ Washington Arts Centre. 6:30pm. Swing dance taster session (6:30pm) followed by Bright Street Big Band (7:30pm). £12.00.
Sat 20: Michael Woods @ Victoria Tunnel, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Acoustic blues.
Sat 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ St Andrew’s Church, Monkseaton. 7:30pm. £10.00. (inc. a drink on arrival).

Sun 21: Jamie Toms Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 21: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Holy Grale, Durham. 5:00pm.
Sun 21: The Jazz Defenders @ Cluny 2. Doors 6:00pm. £15.00.
Sun 21: Edgar Rubenis @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Blues & ragtime guitar.
Sun 21: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Art Themen with the Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. +bf. JNE. SOLD OUT!

Mon 22: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 23: Vieux Carre Hot 4 @ Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. 12:30-3:30pm. £12.00. ‘St George’s Day Afternoon Tea’. Gig with ‘Lashings of Victoria Sponge Cake, along with sandwiches & scones’.
Tue 23: Jalen Ngonda @ Newcastle University Students’ Union. POSTPONED!

Wed 24: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 24: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 24: Sinatra: Raw @ Darlington Hippodrome. 7:30pm. Richard Shelton.
Wed 24: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 24: Death Trap @ Theatre Royal, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Rambert Dance Co. Two pieces inc. Goat (inspired by the music of Nina Simone) with on-stage musicians.

Thu 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 25: Jim Jams @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Jim Jams’ funk collective.
Thu 25: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 25: Death Trap @ Theatre Royal, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Rambert Dance Co. Two pieces inc. Goat (inspired by the music of Nina Simone) with on-stage musicians.
Thu 25: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm.
Thu 25: Kate O’Neill, Alan Law & Paul Grainger @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 25: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Richie Emmerson (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Garry Hadfield (keys).

Fri 26: Graham Hardy Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 26: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 26: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 26: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 26: Paul Skerritt with the Danny Miller Big Band @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Fri 26: Abbie Finn’s Finntet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Be-bop n’ Busy! The Cherry Tree, Jesmond, Monday 28th. Feb 2011.

Graham Hardy (trumpet/flugelhorn), Paul Edis (piano), Mick Shoulder (bass), Adam Sinclair (drums). A very busy restaurant was introduced to the trio by Miss Jones, then Graham joined them, on trumpet, for Long Ago and Far Away. How Insensitive was quite the reverse with bags of feeling and mellow flugelhorn. Some Day and my starter started simultaneously: pan-fried squid glissando with percussive pak choi, bass-notes of tomato and spicy trumpet with chick-peas. Delicious! There was more soulful flugel on Body and Soul which was a delight from piano intro to bowed bass finish. To finish on a high and with much applause, Watermelon Man brought the best out of everyone with its driving rhythm, “wake-up” trumpet and a booming bass solo. My main course was a high, too – pan-fried hake. Now hake can be heavenly or it can – especially abroad (merlu, merluza) – cover a multitude of fins! This was the heavenly kind – flaky, flavoursome and perfectly cooked! The band kept cooking in the second set, their opener, Soul Train? (excuse me I’m vague about many of the titles as the mic’ wasn’t clear above the hubbub of diners) grabbing the attention again with a “paint-stripping” solo. More flugel followed (title unknown) and then a request for Moon River on which we had (wider than a mile) dreamy trumpet rather than flugelhorn and during which I “drifted” and missed the title of the next one on the set-list. The words “love” and “in” may have featured in the title, suffice to say that the audience (although still noisy) were “lovin’” it! To a Sunderland fan, rice-pudding with new-season rhubarb, sounded disturbingly like the Stadium in August, but apart from being red-and-white there was no further resemblance – my dessert was creamy-smooth with a vital sharpness in midfield. A guaranteed winner! In a Sentimental Mood and My Funny Valentine followed, leading up to the (planned) closing number, a blues, which my strained ears heard as “Um..blah”! It featured some rocking piano and blazing trumpet which ideally suited tonight’s atmosphere, just as Watermelon Man did in the first set. Normally things quieten down once the diners have dined, but tonight was so busy that the buzz remained constant. It was a good atmosphere, and it’s great to see both the jazz and the venue being so well attended, but it was hard at times to hear the nuances of the slower, more sensitive compositions/arrangements. Charlie Parker's Au Privave was a title I had difficulty in identifying.
The request which became the final offering was When You Wish Upon a Star which transported us happily car-wards with its bell-clear flugel notes still echoing up Osborne Road.

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